In this week’s founder interview, we’re bringing you Michael Bonacina from Virtual Staging AI.

Without further ado…

Who are you and what do you do?

I am the Co-Founder and CEO of Virtual Staging AI. We’re a startup from the Harvard Innovation Lab that developed a proprietary AI model to do virtual staging automatically.

What problem does your product/service solve?

What are you most excited about right now?

I’m excited about the growing adoption of AI for all the different use cases. AI can’t just help realtors make properties look better, it can enhance their productivity in so many different ways. Seeing how this helps them give their clients a better service is really exciting to me.

What’s next for you?

Since our launch six months ago Virtual Staging AI gained 1,000 paying subscribers and we recently signed our first deal with an MLS. Now that we have proven traction we want to show even more agents the possibilities of virtual staging done by AI and we will expand the features of our product to make it even more helpful for agents.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop us a line (community@geekestate.com).

The post Meet The Real Estate Tech Entrepreneur: Michael Bonacina from Virtual Staging AI appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

We have a job opportunity to share from a member of the GEM, Unwritten Capital, an investment firm that plays at the intersection of real estate and technology

Real Estate Partner (job description):

About the firm

• Unwritten Capital is an investment firm that plays at the intersection of real estate and technology.
• Their team has decades of experience investing in and operating real estate, tech companies, and investment firms.
• On the venture side, their portfolio includes 300+ real estate technology companies across geographies and property types. They’ve invested alongside the best in the business including Sequoia, Union Square Ventures, Accel, etc.
• They are now investing capital into real estate investments supported by technology.
• They are frequently the first institutional real estate capital into a business and invest across the capital stack.
• Unwritten Capital has a purpose built team with unparalleled access to an underserved capital market
  

About the role

Unwritten Capital is looking for a partner to lead their real estate activities.  You will have a seat at the table as we build our firm from the ground up. Their offices are in NYC and we spend several days a week there.

About you

• 10-15+ years of real estate asset level investing experience.
• Led deals from cradle to grave and have invested across property types and geographies. Ideally you will have experience in niche strategies.
• Expertise with complex joint-venture, co-GP and other nuanced investment structures.
• Have the entrepreneurial “bug.” Our firm is a startup–same goes for the companies we partner with.
• Play well with others.  We are collaborative internally and externally.
• Want to have fun.  Yes, we want to make money and build a generational firm. We are going to have fun doing it.

About the opportunity

• The largest asset class in the world is still horse-and-buggy-ing around operating the same as it has for the past 50 years.
• The real estate industry is in the earliest stages of digital adoption.
• Technological innovation initially came from startups that sell products and services to existing real estate companies.
• It is now time to build new kinds of real estate companies with tech in their DNA.
• In the process, these companies unlock new and novel real estate investment opportunities for everything from vacation rentals to construction financing.
• Unwritten Capital is their partner of choice.

Contact:

Jonathan Wasserstrum, jonathan@unwrittencapital.com

The post Proptech Job Opportunity: Real Estate Partner at Unwritten Capital appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

[Note from editor: The “Mastermind Showcase” highlights companies and news from members of the GEM. Today’s showcase: APM Help]

Even tech-enabled property managers are just property managers and people-problems are impossible to solve with software alone. Enter APM Help, a team of software experts providing property managers with 50+ units, bookkeeping support, training, bank reconciliations, and on-demand consulting. Clients can work with U.S.-based account managers with industry experience for scalable bookkeeping support on AppFolio, Buildium, Propertyware, and Rent Manager. Their team also provides daily audits and audit preparation services to get and stay audit-ready. Back office needs are addressed with APM Help’s extended services: corporate bookkeeping, maintenance coordination, and property improvement loans.

What we like: Bookkeeping is the mess that no one wants to do. And audits are the worst nightmare. And that’s APM Help’s specialty.

Learn More

*Part of 2023 REACH Commercial Class

The post Bookkeeping as the Antidote to Property Management appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

Revive, a home concierge service that identifies and executes pre-sale home improvements, has announced it’s latest product release, Vision AI, a computer vision and machine learning listing tool.

On September 7th, they will be hosting a launch party with a live demo at their Irvine office and a virtual stream of the event on zoom.

See More Details and Register to Attend

The post Revive’s New Vision AI Launch Party appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

If you own rental properties, you have come to learn that time is one of your most precious assets. We all have a lot on our plates, but especially those in property management who oversee multiple properties. Daily tasks can quickly become overwhelming, taking you away from larger business priorities.

As a real estate investor myself, I have experienced this first-hand. My biggest limitation is the time that I have available, so I have found that getting every reasonable task off my plate is one of the most important things to do in order to succeed. Once you are behind on your tasks, all you can think about is how you’re going to catch up, so automating those tasks or finding other ways to outsource them, is the first step toward real expansion and growth. 

As most property managers and real estate investors know, the work never ends, so getting through it in the most efficient way possible is critical for success. If you aren’t ahead of the game, you can get buried to the point that you are actually hurting yourself, and your business.

To alleviate the pressure, I recommend automating as many aspects of your business as possible. It can save you time and money, and put you on the road to achieving your long-term goals. Here are some surefire ways to successfully automate your real estate property management business.

Embrace Digital Marketing

Traditional marketing methods to find tenants have gone the way of the wooly mammoth; if you aren’t embracing digital marketing, you’re leaving time and money on the table. Social media, email marketing, and online listings can all effectively reach potential tenants. There are a huge number of quality listing services out there, such as Zillow, Rent.com and many others. Listing your property on these sites can definitely garner some attention, but painstakingly copying and pasting the listing site-by-site is not a good use of time. Find a software that will syndicate the listing for you, sending it out instantly to all the top sites from one central location. 

Leverage ChatGPT 

Speaking of listings, consider utilizing ChatGPT. It  can streamline a number of tasks that typically eat up time in your day. For example, you can use it to write property descriptions, newsletter content, tenant emails, blog posts and more, which gives you more time to focus on strategic initiatives. Open AI, the company behind GPT and ChatGPT, has solutions for you to integrate AI Technology directly into your software, which is what we did at Rentec Direct. Our AI Listing Generator allows clients to generate an enticing property description in a matter of seconds, which typically takes between 10 to 30 minutes. 

Offer Virtual Tours

Your AI-created listing generated interest among prospective tenants, now consider how to save time in terms of property showings. Virtual tours are the answer. They have become a valuable tool for property managers. Eliminating the need to be on site to show a vacant property will save you loads of time and give the potential renters all the time they need to peruse the space for as long as they want. Make sure to add as many frequently asked questions to your virtual tour to eliminate the need for a lengthy follow-up meeting. 

Invest in Property Management Software

Investing in property management software is one of the best decisions you can make for your business. The right software can help automate many tasks, such as rent collection, maintenance requests, and lease renewals. You can even automate the marketing of vacant properties and syndicate across multiple rental sites with one simple click. A property management software platform can be your ticket back to a healthy work-life balance and take more time-consuming daily tasks off your plate. 

Offer Online Rent Payments

Using a check to pay rent – or anything else for that matter – is antiquated. It’s a massive waste of time, and with the expectations and busyness of today’s modern world, it just doesn’t make sense. No one wants to go through the steps of writing, mailing and sending a check through the mail, especially when there are ways to quickly and securely pay online. 

Implementing online rent payment can save you and your tenants time and headaches. Not only does it make the rent collection process more efficient, but it also eliminates the need for manual record-keeping. If you are considering implementing a software platform to help automate your business, find one that has online rent payment functionality built-in. Data shows that renters are more likely to pay on time when the rent is automatically withdrawn through an online payment system too. It’s a win-win for everyone. 

Use Maintenance Request Software

Handling maintenance requests can be one of the most time-consuming aspects of property management. If it’s not a broken sink, it’s an issue with the air conditioning. These can pile up and easily be forgotten, leading to annoyed tenants and adding to your stress. 

Maintenance request software can automate this process, allowing tenants to submit requests online and track their progress. When all requests come to one place, knocking them out promptly is much easier. Plus, the right system will keep records for you – something that’s important come tax time. 

Automate Lease Renewals

Managing lease renewals can be a pain, but automating this process can save you time and ensure you don’t miss any critical deadlines. Property management software can automate the lease renewal process, automatically sending out reminders to tenants and generating new lease agreements. The minutiae of the business no longer need to be your primary concern when you understand how to use all of the technology at your disposal. 

Not taking advantage of all the ways to automate your business is only making things more complex and putting maximum strain on you. There are many ways to streamline your daily workflow, but in my own experience, automating with the right systems and technology has delivered the largest return-on-investment for me. Your business is unique, so dig deep and find the pain points you can eliminate through thoughtful automation. Nothing can replace the peace of mind that comes with having more time for yourself and your loved ones. 

The post Automation May Just Be the Key to Your Rental Property Success appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

Second quarter results are in for proptech’s public companies.

Our last summary of results was Q2 2021. As part of launching our Crystal tier, we’re bringing the earnings radar back. This time, better than ever as an ongoing Biz Intel Series. We’re re-starting with the ten companies we deem as the most important players in the broader category:

• Airbnb
• Blend Labs
• Compass
• CoStar
• eXp World Holdings
• NewsCorp
• Opendoor
• Redfin
• WeWork
• Zillow

However, it’s likely we’ll add companies to the list in future editions—if there’s one you’d like to see covered, let us know.

Let’s get to the numbers…

Here’s what you can expect in the report, with our coverage of Blend Labs & Airbnb…

Airbnb saw 115 million nights and experiences booked, up 11% YoY, on top of more than 7 million active listings. That led to more than half a billion in net income, making it the most profitable company of those included—by a mile. Also, it’s worth calling out that 18% of all gross nights booked were long-term stays (28 days or more)—down from 25% a couple of years ago in Q1 2021, signaling digital nomadism being an important movement but not the end-all-be-all trend some predicted.

Market cap: 85.7B

Notable Takeaways:

• $2.5 billion in revenue, up 18% YoY.
• Net income of $650 million, a big uptick of 72% from a year ago. Net income margin came in at 26%, up 18% YoY.
• Free cash flow was $900 million, which helped enable $2.5 billion in stock repurchases over the trailing twelve months.
• Average nightly booking cost was $166.

Learn more: Press Release // Shareholder Letter // PhocusWire // Skift // Inman

Blend Labs exceeded company guidance on both topline and bottomline numbers. Revenue came in at $42.8M in Q2 2023, down 35% compared to $65.5M in Q2 2022. Net Loss was $41.2M.

Market cap: 349M

Notable Takeaways

• Gross profit margin was approximately 55%, up from 39% in Q2 2022 primarily due to expansion in its Blend Platform.
• Year-over-year Mortgage Suite revenue per transaction increased from $77 to $93.
• Consumer Banking Suite revenue totaled $5.8M in Q2 2023, a YoY increase of 27%.
• Professional services revenue increased 10% year-over-year to $2.2M.
• Within the Platform segment, Mortgage Banking Suite revenue declined by 17% year-over-year, to $22.3M in Q2 2023.
• Operating expenses decreased by $391.8M from Q2 2022 due to the impairment of intangible assets and goodwill caused by the acquisition of Title 365 from Mr. Cooper Group. Excluding that transaction, operating expenses decreased 16.7% from Q2 2022 to Q2 2023.

Learn more: Press Release

Want to see the other eight company summaries? You can read it in its entirety, free of charge, by subscribing to GEM Crystal today at our special introductory pricing of $9.99 per month or $99 per year (good for the first 250 subscribers). Plus, there is a 21 day free trial. So, there is absolutely no risk…

Read Full Company Summaries

WRAP-UP

The ten companies covered represent a combined $152.46 billion in market capitalization. It was a mixed bag of wins and losses in Q2: six lost money on a quarterly basis, and only two generated Net Income of more than $100 million.

Read Company Earnings & Market Cap Table

Most notably though, WeWork is in dire straits. Despite a small YoY revenue bump, the firm said it would need to cut its own rent costs, further boost revenue, reduce expenses, and attract more capital to continue.

With the CoStar/Realtor.com acquisition falling through in Q1, both companies reported small YoY losses. What was meant to be a shot in the arm to take on Zillow as residential category king, now means both companies are forced back to the drawing board to determine how to reach buyers, sellers, and renters.

Airbnb came out Q2’s big winner, furthering its stronghold as proptech’s unquestioned leader.

We’ll check back in Q3 to see if WeWork can pull a rabbit from its hat.

The post Proptech Earnings Radar for Q2 2023 appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

Congratulations to Restb.ai, a computer vision and AI solutions provider for the real estate industry, for being named the 2023 Inman Innovator Award Winner for Top Technology at Inman Connect Las Vegas. Using AI-powered technology to automatically analyze property imagery, Restb.ai’s computer vision provides visual insights with relevant and actionable property intelligence to real estate companies. It receives 1 million property photo uploads daily and is embedded in all the leading MLS technology platforms.

Nearly 300 nominations were made for the 2023 Inman Innovator Awards, including CoreLogic, Constellation1, Collabra Technology, DOSS, iGUIDE, and Luxury Presence.

The post Restb.ai named the 2023 Inman Innovator Award Winner for Top Technology appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

[Note from editor: The “Mastermind Showcase” highlights companies and news from members of the GEM. Today’s showcase: Fyma]

A computer vision platform, FYMA uses video and image feeds to deliver occupancy and human activity analytics to improve asset management and property operations. They work with existing camera hardware to deliver movement trends, occupancy, and marketing insights for a variety of spaces from office buildings to retail to industrial.

• For retail: provides real-time analytics, alerts, and historical analysis on customer traffic, movement patterns, and demographics.
• For mobility: mobility data solution collects and analyzes data on traffic volume, modal share, movement patterns and congestion enabling real-time updates and comprehensive insights into transportation networks and patterns around a property.
• For parking: monitors parking spaces to detect available spaces and guide drivers to reduce congestion.

What we like: By leveraging a real estate assets’ existing cameras, Fyma’s is able to unlock real-time intelligence without the adoption challenges that come with needing to install new hardware.

Learn More

*Part of 2023 REACH Commercial Class

The post Utilizing Existing Hardware and Computer Vision to Create Deeper Data Insights appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

In this week’s founder interview, we’re bringing you Len Dugow from DASH.

Without further ado…

Who are you and what do you do?

I am the founder and CEO of DASH. I’ve had a 30-plus-year career leading branding and marketing campaigns for some of the nation’s most prominent luxury residential real estate developers and brokerage firms. With the launch of DASH, I am now focused on giving agents access to the most comprehensive database of new development inventory to help them focus on what they do best – sell real estate.

What problem does your product/service solve?

What are you most excited about right now?

I’m really excited to finally go to market. DASH has been in development for three years now, and it has been a true collaboration with our network of top real estate developers, brokerages and agents. It’s great to see it all come together.

What’s next for you?

We launched the platform’s pilot market in the South Florida tri-county area. Our plans now are to expand into the nation’s top 10 markets within the next 30 months.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop us a line (community@geekestate.com).

The post Meet The Real Estate Tech Entrepreneur: Len Dugow from DASH appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

[Note from editor: The “Mastermind Showcase” highlights companies and news from members of the GEM. Today’s showcase: Highnote]

Combining high-end design and marketing assets in a drag and drop interface, Highnote’ presentation and proposal platform provides real estate agents with a sales and marketing suite  to showcase listings, neighborhoods, and their personal brand to leads, clients, and customers. Highnote also notifies customers when their materials are opened/read.

Highnote’s platform has a library of 100+ free templates to leverage existing documents, websites, and video links that are automatically formatted into their presentations. Both solo subscriptions and team/enterprise pricing options are available.

What we like:< Vast templates designed with real estate expertise and automatic use of existing materials are both great features. Knowing who opens your sales materials in order to followup with them at the right time is magic. 

Learn More

*Part of 2023 REACH Class

The post Be Notified when Your  Presentations and Proposals are Consumed  appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

[Editor’s Note: Geek Estate Offers are special offers from members of the GEM]

Taking place September 19th and 20th, CREtech brings together leaders in the commercial, residential, PropTech, and climate tech industries for two days of speaking engagements, networking opportunities, and industry insights in the incredible New York City.

Register if you want…

• In-person networking opportunities with other innovative-driven industry professionals.
• One-on-one meetings with other attendees in the Tech Connect Lounge.
• To see the NEW VIP Attendee Lounge with catered lunch available.
• To attend any of the 31+ speakers discussing the future of real estate technology

See more of what registering has to offer.

GEM members receive 20% off! (check the CREtech New York 2023 entry on the GEM events calendar for the coupon code, or ask us)

REGISTER NOW

The post Get 20% off CREtech NYC September 19th-20th appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

In this week’s founder interview, we’re bringing you Young Kim from Bella Virtual Staging.

Without further ado…

Who are you and what do you do?

I am the founder and CEO of Bella Virtual Staging. It’s a pleasure to meet you and thank you for the opportunity to share my insights about virtual staging. I come from a tech background and have been involved in several tech startups.  I started Bella Virtual Staging back in 2019 and we now service around 4700 clients in the USA and Canada.

What problem does your product/service solve?

What are you most excited about right now?

The application of technology and innovation in real estate and being on the forefront is super exciting.  With our clients who have never tried virtual staging before, there is usually a lot of reservation to adapt new technology into their marketing. Once their property sells and they come back to us saying their listings had multiple offers, they are so grateful and happy to have discovered virtual staging. This is so rewarding and encouraging to our team to hear these success stories.  We believe in so much of what we do, we offer a free trial to any real estate professional wanting to try out virtual staging for their properties.

What’s next for you?

At the core of Bella Virtual Staging, we are a technology company.  We are in the midst of fine tuning and launching a new platform which will incorporate AI and other bells and whistles to help our clients market and sell better. We will keep you updated on that when it comes closer to the launch date for an exclusive preview.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

Thanks to Young for sharing his story. If you’d like to connect, find him on LinkedIn.

We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop us a line (community@geekestate.com).

The post Meet The Real Estate Tech Entrepreneur: Young Kim from Bella Virtual Staging appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

The GEM Soirée series continues, taking place in two weeks on July 20th in Seattle. It’ll be an evening to mingle and celebrate the industry’s progress with real estate tech founders, execs, VCs, and practitioners. Inspectify will host the event on July 20th from 3:30-6:00 in Pioneer Square (thanks to Josh Jensen). Alcohol and o’dourves will be provided.

GEM Diamond members are invited, as well as guests interested in learning more about who we are and what we do to bring creativity and innovation thinking to the proptech sector.

Are you an real estate tech executive and want to attend? Shoot us an email below, and we’ll get you the calendar invite.

RSVP NOW

**PS 1: Capped at 40 attendees. Also note, dinners and happy hours are taking place in Las Vegas (Inman and Blueprint), New York (CREtech), Miami (iOi), and Anaheim (NAR NXT) in the fall.

**PS 2: There are a group of GEM Diamond members attending the Mariners-Twins day game immediately beforehand. If interested in joining, please apply to the GEM.

The post GEM Soirée (and Mariners game) in Seattle appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

Rob Hahn is conducting a webinar to summarize the important commission lawsuits (Sitzer/Burnett, Moehrl v National Association of Realtors, Nosalek v. MLS PIN), point out the issues that you have not heard (unless you’ve kept up with his recent writing), and discuss the likely impacts of said commission lawsuits — straight with no BS — this coming Monday (July 10th) from 10:00-11:30am PT / 1:00 – 2:30pm ET.

If you’re a agent, broker, MLS and the Association exec wondering how you might navigate the post-apocalypse landscape, you should consider signing up. Don’t be caught unaware of what might await you.

The rough outline:

• The likely outcome of Sitzer/Burnett v. NAR (the first lawsuit up) and why
• Monetary damages
• “Co-Conspirator” status and why that matters
• Weak vs. Strong injunction
• Copycat lawsuits
• Bankruptcy issues
• Settlement?
• The DOJ and FTC
• The environment post-apocalypse and strategies for:
  • Agents
  • Brokerages
  • MLS
  • Associations
• Q&A and Discussion (with the option to ask questions anonymously or join Rob on camera for debate/discussion)

It is a paid webinar, with a cost of $450. However, he’s agreed to offer up a discount for any friends of mine…which I am sharing here for you. The link below will get you $150 off the price.

Interested?

Register Now w/ Discount

The post What Now? Real Estate Industry After the Commission Lawsuits appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

[Note from editor: The “Mastermind Showcase” highlights companies and news from members of the GEM. Today’s showcase: Flock Homes]

Flock Homes’ offers a retirement solution for landlords by seamlessly exchanging their home for shares in a diversified property portfolio. By leveraging a 721 Exchange, a mechanism historically used by institutional investors, Flock Homes’ provides property owners with a tax-deferred exit from a rental property. Property owners can then earn passive income from Flock’s portfolio while Flock manages the property and takes care of taxes, insurance, leasing, and maintenance. Investors can re-invest their distributions, get a payout, or both.

According to Flock Homes, their portfolio is currently valued at $94.2 million, with $1.4 million distributions paid inception-to-date, and has had a 7.7% gross yield.

What we like: With home prices skyrocketing, populations rising, and taxes not going away, the time is right for Flock to accelerate before the rest of the power of 721 Exchanges becomes more widely known.

Learn More

*Part of 2023 REACH Class

The post A Tax-Deferred Exit from a Rental Property appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

We have a job opportunity to share from a member of the GEM, Collabra Technology, data analytics and automated digital marketing solutions for the real estate industry: Chief Marketing Officer.

Job Description

The Chief Marketing Officer will focus on driving brand recognition, product adoption, use and revenue by building a well-known and respected industry brand, while executing on a comprehensive, omni-channel demand generation strategy, including email, paid and earned media, sales channel support, communications and website development/optimization.

Responsibilities Include:

• Develop and implement the overall SphereBuilder marketing strategy and act as a strategic partner to the CEO by proactively identifying opportunities for marketing innovation, improvement, and growth.
• Tell the SphereBuilder story by creating a narrative that amplifies the intersection of data analytics and real estate digital marketing and position SphereBuilder as the undisputed leader of this category.
• Collaborate closely with the leadership team to establish and maintain a consistent and compelling brand vision, while aligning marketing efforts with the company’s overall strategic goals.
• Recruit, build, and motivate a high-quality marketing organization. Empower the team to grow and thrive. Develop a winning culture that supports high-energy interaction, responsiveness, attentiveness, and high integrity.
• Develop and manage SphereBuilder’s digital marketing programs that support ambitious pipeline and sales/revenue targets, optimizing these efforts through continuous A/B testing.
• Own campaigns from end-to-end: managing creative processes, targeting and segmentation, planning, execution, and reporting.
• Build out and optimize SphereBuilder’s website, including content strategy, navigation and UI, SEO strategies, and lead conversion tactics.
• Establish paid media strategies to reach new audiences and generate leads, including SEM, content syndication and paid social.
• Bring on new demand generation tactics such as webinars, virtual or live events, customer stories, podcasts and immersive demos.
• Partner with Product Marketing to build and execute on email marketing strategies that span the full customer lifecycle and increases conversions at each stage of the funnel.
• Collaborate with our Product team to understand product roadmap and release schedules so as to align marketing strategies with the future development of the platform.
• Partner closely with the channel sales organization to ensure support for effective lead generation and conversion opportunities.
• Work directly with our broker enterprise customers to drive awareness, use and adoption by their affiliated real estate professionals.
• Manage the marketing budget, allocating resources efficiently to achieve optimal results across different marketing initiatives and channels.
• Cultivate strong relationships with key industry partners, influencers, and media outlets to amplify SphereBuilder’s brand visibility and reputation.
• Champion a data-driven approach to marketing decision-making, leveraging advanced analytics and insights to continuously optimize marketing investments and maximize ROI across all channels and initiatives. Analyze and report on marketing performance metrics while identifying opportunities for optimization and growth.
• Foster a culture of data-driven decision-making within the marketing team, ensuring that all team members are proficient in using analytics tools and methodologies to track performance, identify opportunities for improvement, and make informed decisions about marketing investments.
• Define and craft the vision, strategy and execution plan for the external and internal communications function supporting the launch and growth of SphereBuilder in alignment with the near-mid-long term objectives and priorities.
• Develop and edit press releases, articles, success stories, technical articles and media pitches to further the visibility of SphereBuilder.
• Coordinate media interviews and prepare media briefing documents, including key messages.
• Responsible for overall strategic vision and planning of events to increase awareness of SphereBuilder and to help the company achieve growth goals. Manage all aspects of events from pre-planning, resources, marketing, on-site coordination and post-event follow-up.
• Responsible for effective budget management while ensuring high-quality, high-impact events support that generate ROI. Analyze event ROI through post-event surveys and post-mortems to continuously identify areas of improvement.
• Responsible for the development of the overall corporate event strategy, including conferences, webinars, road shows and tradeshows.
• Lead the development and distribution of thought leadership content, such as whitepapers, case studies, video series, podcasts, and blog posts, to establish SphereBuilder as a leader in the intersection of digital marketing analytics and content creation.
• Identify and pursue relevant industry awards and recognition opportunities to further elevate SphereBuilder’s brand reputation.

Qualifications, Experience And Skills.

• 10-15 years’ experience and proven success as a marketing leader of a technology company serving the residential real estate industry.
• Deep understanding of product-led growth strategies and demonstrated success in supporting subscription services with recurring revenue.
• Demonstrated experience in creating world-class top of funnel demand generation strategies mapped to business goals.
• A strong creative vision, with the capability to develop innovative marketing campaigns and initiatives that resonate with the target audience and drive engagement.
• A team player who is not afraid of doing whatever is necessary to get the job done.
• Insane analytical skills and data competency with a demonstrated experience using web analytics to make data-driven decisions that further business objectives and digital marketing strategy, including deep understanding of digital channels, new marketing technologies and industry best practices and benchmarks.
• Strong experience with data-driven decision-making, including expertise in using analytics tools and methodologies to optimize marketing investments and maximize ROI.
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with the CEO, leadership team and external partners while ‘checking your ego at the door.’
• Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor, and develop high-performing marketing teams, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Values thought diversity and ensures all appropriate team member views have been raised and considered when making key decisions.
• An understanding of real estate industry competitive landscape, best practices, platforms and tools.
• Creative, growth mindset, speedy, innovative, fail-fast mentality.
• Experience managing and optimizing marketing budgets, allocating resources effectively across various marketing initiatives and channels.
• Experience managing a company’s website and driving improvements in user experience, lead generation, and brand representation.
• Excellent writing skills, with the ability to craft compelling narratives, thought leadership content, and marketing communications that effectively convey SphereBuilder’s brand message.
• Demonstrated success in building and maintaining relationships with key industry partners, influencers, and media outlets to amplify SphereBuilder’s brand visibility and reputation through PR and thought leadership opportunities.
• A genuinely nice human who likes to smile, laugh and is generally fun to be around, even when business gets crazy.

Interested?

Learn more and Apply

The post Proptech Job Opportunity: Chief of Marketing Officer for Collabra Technology appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

In this week’s interview, we’re bringing you Ryan Letzeiser from the landlord-focused insuretech, Obie. Fresh off a $25 million Series B raise, Obie is working to change the way insurance is bought and sold by offering instantly bindable quotes through an embedded distribution strategy.

Without further ado, here’s a short Q&A we conducted via email:

What has Obie’s fundraising journey looked like, in terms of rounds, and how much you’ve raised?

Obie has raised three institutional rounds of funding. We started with our seed round coming out of the accelerator, Y Combinator, in 2019. Next, we secured our Series A in late 2020, and just this past month secured our Series B for a combined total of $40 million raised.

What were some of the challenges you came up against raising a Series B, that differ from your Series A, two years ago?

Typically, a Series A funding round indicates proof of concept for a company, signifying that the business idea is truly feasible. Series B rounds are usually more indicative of product market fit, meaning there is proof that the product is satisfying a demand in the market and there’s an opportunity to pour more fuel on the fire.

As we looked to secure our Series B, we focused on metrics like customer lifetime value and acquisition cost as well as net present value, instead of the projections we had leaned into when securing our Series A. We also looked to continue differentiating our tech strategy when pitching investors for our Series B, underlining the unique value of investing in Obie.

What were some of the adjustments you made to raising this time around, given the current venture capital environment?

The current VC environment requires companies to show proof of solid fundamentals and disciplined growth. As a result, pitch evaluations are moving at a slower pace.

In contrast to the VC environment of years past, many deals are taking longer to complete. This extended time-to-close leaves room for market fluctuations that can potentially affect the predictability of a business, and therefore the value of a deal for the investor.

The simple strategy for winning during downtimes is patience. Investors can, at times, wear you down with questions that you can’t answer. Sometimes they’re looking for you to give them a reason to say no. You need to find a way to hold on and keep reiterating all the positives of your pitch.

There’s also a balancing act of not taking too long or being too eager. You want to build consistency, which will encourage the investor to enter into a long-term relationship with your company.

What are some of the common themes you heard from investors, both those who invested in and those who passed on Obie?

I think we were able to win by leveraging a strategy of doing things differently compared to our startup and incumbent peers. The fact that we take a partner-first approach to distribution has allowed us to gain quite a bit of domain knowledge and authority. That foundation has grown exponentially as we’ve sold into this ecosystem.

We’ve also continued to reinvest in the sector, adding a B2B2C channel so we can always meet our customers wherever they are. That strategy has the added benefit of a very attractive customer acquisition cost. It’s the third spoke of the wheel that is very new and novel; historically, buying insurance was broker-to-customer, then direct-to-customer through insurtech 1.0. By adding a B2B2C play, we’re able to acquire new customers without having to change customer behavior.

Often, the investors who passed on Obie told us the decision was not about our business in particular, but about the insurance sector as a whole. When unfavorable outcomes for your industry have already left a bad taste in the investors’ mouths, it can be hard to convince them you won’t follow suit. That’s especially true in a volatile economy like we have right now. Additionally, other investors told us that insurtech wasn’t their area of expertise, so in our case they didn’t have enough knowledge to make a confident investment.

What advice would you give other proptech founders who may be looking to raise or are currently fundraising?

If you’re a founder who has raised before, expect a new level of due diligence on your business as investors become more stringent in evaluating growth. You should also expect a longer timeline than you’ve had in the past. There is no rush to fund, so patience is key.

A lot of the success in raising today comes down to relationship building. Keep doing what you say you are going to do. Create confidence that you can continue to do that when you are presenting future forecasts. Execute, and you’ll be trusted in return.

The post Founder Q&A with Ryan Letzeiser from Obie appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

LAB Ventures is returning to Blueprint 2023 to host the Startup Showcase. They are looking for early-stage startups who are revolutionizing the Real Estate and Construction sectors, and give them the Blueprint stage on September 11th. 

The selected startups will receive exposure and two passes for the entire three-day event, along with other benefits from the LAB Ventures’ Studio partners.

All early-stage startups that fit the criteria (check out the link in the application button) are invited to apply. If interested, details on how to submit your company for consideration can be found below.

Apply Now

The post Apply for the Blueprint 2023 Startup Showcase! appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

Those of you with the paid version of ChatGPT may have tested a few of the real estate plugins. There are four that I’ve found so far are:

• Zumper
• Redfin
• Zillow
• Rentable

In an GEM community event on June 20th at 9 am PST, Anthemos Georgiades from Zumper will be joined by a few product/engineering leads to talk through what they’ve built, and share a few early learnings.

Then we’ll open the discussion up and ponder what this technology means for the future of our industry.

If you’re a founder, exec, or VC and want in on the action, please join the GEM today.

(PS: If you’re on the product team at Redfin, Zillow, or Rentable and interested in participating, please shoot us a note.)

the GEM BRIEFING

A PRIVATE GROUP OF INDEPENDENT THINKERS, FREE FROM SPONSORED MESSAGES, SALES PITCHES AND NOISE

There are four parts to membership:

• Long-form articles covering the spectrum from shipping container co-living spaces to the battle for listing acquisition in the first iBuyer world war (Weekly Transmission): A Waking of the iBuying Elephant, Certainty as a Service, The Undisrupted: A Portrait of Blue Collar America, Requiring Employers to Assist Employees with Housing Would Unleash Innovation, and Filling the Emerging iBuyer Vacuum.
• Curated real estate, startups, & built world links & analysis blended with out of the box ideas (Weekly Radar): July Monthly Radar 2022.
• Special reports (a category review of Small Landlord Prop Mgmt Software, Blueprinting Proptech startup analyses, Blueprinting Proptech: PadSplit, Blueprinting Proptech: Foxy AI, & Ecosystem Intelligence).
• Networking opportunities with 600+ innovators from across the globe through the private forum & in-person gatherings.

With a mission to attract the 1,500 most forward-thinking, and diverse, innovators, we’re looking for the best and brightest in all the land...

Membership is $139 / quarter

READY TO JOIN RIGHT NOW?

Apply for Membership

The post Upcoming GEM Event: How will ChatGPT plugins change real estate? appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

[Note from editor: The “Mastermind Showcase” highlights companies and news from members of the GEM. Today’s showcase: Spackle]

A mobile solution helping find electrical, plumbing, painting, and concrete subcontractors for small commercial construction projects, Spackle connects service providers with commercial occupiers to manage and fulfill maintenance and improvement requests. Users upload a photo and a brief description of their construction project, choose from proposals, manage their tasks, and view task progress. Spackle’s services are fit for commercial buildings, tenant offices, college campuses, museums, industrial, warehouses, and retail. Contractors are verified to have been in business for a minimum of 10 years, regularly handle over $1M in projects, and pass a 50+ point performance check. Spackle also works directly with insurance brokers to assure 100% COI compliance.

What we like: Bringing small commercial construction projects into the mobile world with end-to-end workflows, on top of a verified pool of contractors.

Learn More

*Part of 2022 REACH Commercial Class

The post Mobile Small Commercial Construction Booking  appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.